A bend in the road - Vol 1

2. Distractions

It was the sixth coffee in the past few hours.

His fingers found the cup automatically, even though his gaze hadn't wavered from the presentation made to the client he was supposed to meet the next day.

He had a sip from it and two. And then his concentration had wavered.

The coffee wasn't perfect, wasn't to his liking. It wasn't made with one cube of sugar, but with god knows how much insane amounts of sugar cubes. With a flash, he had remembered his very own secretary, who, as a part of her bargain of making one mistake each day, had recently dished him out a coffee which tasted like brown colored sugar syrup.

If it were somebody else, he would have fired that person before ensuring their life is scarred by lashing out at them.

He was intolerant to imperfection.

It went beyond everybody's comprehension that Geet stayed for longer than anyone would have expected. There were betting going on amongst his employees and if he was right, Adi is growing richer day by day because he was the only person who believed that Geet will soon become a permanent employee.

He knew why Geet wasn't fired yet. She made mistakes, of course. A lot of them in fact. But there was no imperfection. She was like a wild charging bull which is so confidently going towards the wrong path.

A rare half smile creaked across his lips.

He would never admit but her sassy sarcasm entertains him more than he would show. Sometimes with her innocence which he often terms as dumbness to her face; sometimes with her misplaced courage, she speaks her heart, something nobody else does before him; not his employees, not his family.

With his power and stature, he had seen too many yes men, to learn to appreciate somebody like her who isn't living to impress him and makes it her job to articulate the same to him. She was a breath of fresh air to his company, and to him; though he isn't going to admit the latter part anyway.

It had become a part of his routine to have her around, and though she might think she is a wallflower like everybody else to his eyes, it wasn't true. He thinks maybe she stands out in the crowd because of the flashy colors and those noisy anklets she wears every day to office.

Whatever the reason was, he realized he was tuned to her presence more than he would've liked. It was both amusing and annoying to look at her work, which by the way had become more than a habit these days. His eyes keep wavering to that blasted glass partition between them only to see her either being so focused on her work that the tip of her tongue peeking a boo from the corner of her lips, or her answering a call with a grin as if she was talking not to his clients but to her family...

Little details of her, like the small dimple at the corner of her lips that is almost invisible in her laugh lines, the wayward tendrils of hers that somehow manage to escape her otherwise braided hair, became so noticeable to him these days that he had to watch his words while he was blasting her and not be distracted by her.

Maybe it was becoming too much of her around him, that he was getting so distracted.

He needs to do something and soon, before he could lose control like that again. The moment is still fresh in his memory when she stood there under the spotlight with her Sari torn, sobbing, and defeated.

The rage he felt then was so strong, so violent that he could have killed the next person who would dare a wrong look or wrong comment against Geet.

The soft touch of her hand gripping his arm as he walked her to his suite for change of clothes, he still remembered. That touch was the only thing that had stopped the raging beast in him from coming out. He hated her tears then and he hates them today.

He, who thought tears would make anybody weak and taunted those who shed them, now felt weak at her tears and it wasn't something he was proud of.

A part of his mind strongly felt a need to do something to physically hurt someone who had put those tears there.

He shut down his laptop as he got up from his chair and went to the window which overlooked the now darkened city.

There was high time he put a stop to this, before it went out of control. She was his secretary and he, her boss. That was that. He had to get away from this madness, whatever this is.

At least temporarily.

He made few calls and went back to his desk. After the presentation to his client Chopra tomorrow, the first thing he would do is to drive to Hoshiyarpur. There was still the land issue that was to be resolved anyway.

He needed some time away to clear his head and gain back his sanity, and maybe if he could claim the land of Handa's, it would be a win-win situation.